Day: April 22, 2024

Shortlist revealed for 45th Scottish Press Awards

Over 100 entries have been shortlisted for the 45th Scottish Press Awards, it has been announced. The awards recognise excellence in national, regional, and digital journalism from across the country.

With 26 categories featuring a mix of several long-standing award titles complemented by a range of new-look categories, the judges have received a flood of entries, representing the finest talent from across the industry.

The finalists will be hoping to scoop an award from a range of categories including politics, business, sport, and the arts.

This full list of categories for 2024 includes:

  • Arts and Entertainment Journalist of the Year
  • Best Coverage of a Live Event
  • Campaign of the Year
  • Columnist of the Year
  • Feature Writer of the Year
  • Financial/Business Journalist of the Year
  • Food and Drink Writer of the Year
  • Front Page of the Year
  • Journalism Team of the Year
  • Lifetime Achievement Award (not applicable for entry, chosen by the editors’ committee)
  • Scottish Newsbrand of the Year
  • News Photographer of the Year
  • Nicola Barry Award
  • Podcast of the Year
  • Political Journalist of the Year
  • Regional Journalist of the Year
  • Reporter of the Year
  • Specialist Reporter of the Year
  • Sports Columnist of the Year
  • Sports Feature Writer of the Year
  • Sports News Writer of the Year
  • Sports Photographer of the Year
  • Weekly Journalist of the Year
  • Weekly Newsbrand of the Year
  • Young Journalist of the Year
  • Journalist of the Year (not applicable for entry, chosen by the judges)

Shortlists for the sought-after Scottish Newsbrand of the Year, Journalist of the Year, and Lifetime Achievement Award have not been revealed as winners will be announced on the night of the ceremony. The shortlist for Weekly Newsbrand of the Year will be revealed in May.

This year’s judging panel was led by Richard Neville, former Head of News Brands at DC Thomson, and current Director of Neville Robertson Communications.

Richard Neville, chair of the Scottish Press Awards judges, said: “It has been fantastic to see the quality of entries to this year’s awards. The talent in this industry stretches right across the spectrum of digital and print publishing and across every region of the country.

“The need for incisive, challenging journalism grows every year and Scotland’s journalists have risen to the task in the past 12 months.

“Telling good stories will always be at the heart of what the industry does but holding the rich, powerful, and opportunistic chancers to account is of equal importance. It is clear from this year’s shortlist that Scotland is not a place to come to avoid scrutiny.”

The 45th Scottish Press Awards are sponsored by Royal Bank of Scotland, Diageo, VisitScotland, Edrington, Openreach, Glenmorangie, The Law Society of Scotland, Caledonian MacBrayne, Registers of Scotland, Muckle Media, Amazon, Women in Journalism Scotland, BIG Partnership, Weber Shandwick, Event Consultants Scotland and Newsbrands Scotland.

Overseen by Newsbrands Scotland (formerly the Scottish Newspaper Society), the awards ceremony and dinner will take place at the DoubleTree by Hilton Glasgow Central on 29 May 2024.

For more information and to view the shortlist, visit:

Shortlist announced for 45th Scottish Press Awards

Corgi Derby: Beckett crowned king!

Racegoers go corgi crazy at Musselburgh Racecourse

A NEW four-legged champion has been crowned for the Corgi Derby at The Sky Bet Sunday Series Raceday, Musselburgh Racecourse.

Amidst the revelry, racegoers went wild for the 12 competing Pembroke Welsh Corgis dashing down the grassy 70 metre course, in what was the biggest race to date.

In a thrilling photo finish that had spectators on the edge of their seats, it was four-year-old Beckett who nosed ahead of the pack to capture the coveted title of Fastest Corgi of 2024.

The chestnut, black and white pup edged out ahead of the competition beating year one winner Georgie by a nose, taking his claim as the new king of the racetrack.

Renowned ITV racing presenter Oli Bell had the honour of officiating the third edition of the event and presenting Beckett and his owner Heather Sliman with his winner’s trophy and treats.

The Corgi Derby, first launched in 2022 for the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations, has quickly become one of the most anticipated and beloved traditions at Musselburgh’s Easter Saturday festivities – which was rescheduled this year due to inclement weather.

Aisling Johnston, Head of Marketing and Business Development at Musselburgh Racecourse said: “The Corgi Derby is such a unique and fun tradition that keeps growing every year, attracting media attention from across the globe.

“We’re thrilled that the Corgi Derby could be rescheduled. Kicking off a day of high-quality racing with these adorable corgis always provides an unbeatable atmosphere.”

Following the exhilarating Corgi Derby, the event transitioned to a seven-card of top horse racing action broadcasted on ITV 4. With a staggering £225,200 prize money up for grabs, this is one of the richest racedays at Musselburgh course with the feature race of the day, The Sky Bet Acca Freeze Handicap Stakes, worth £75,000.

The next sensational raceday at Musselburgh Racecourse will be one of the most prestigious days of the Scottish Summer racing calendar. The Edinburgh Cup Raceday sponsored by Edinburgh Gin will take place on Saturday 1st June 2024, a celebration of Edinburgh with a day full of entertainment, music, food and competitive horse racing.

To find out more about the Edinburgh Cup, please visit: https://www.musselburgh-racecourse.co.uk/sensational-7-highlights/highlight/the-edinburgh-cup-raceday

For more information and to book tickets for other race-days at Musselburgh Racecourse, please visit: https://www.musselburgh-racecourse.co.uk/

Casket believed to have belonged to Mary, Queen of Scots to go on tour

A silver casket believed to have been owned by Mary, Queen of Scots and which was acquired by National Museums Scotland in 2022 has undergone fresh conservation work ahead of going on tour to Kirkcudbright and Stirling.  

An iconic piece of Scotland’s national heritage, the casket will go on display at Kirkcudbright Galleries from 2 November 2024 – 27 April 2025 then at Stirling Smith Art Gallery & Museum from 30 April – 31 August 2025. Its display at both venues is supported by the Weston Loan Programme with Art Fund. 

To prepare the casket for the tour, centuries of tarnish and corrosion have been removed. The technique of electrolytic reduction was used via a pen-like device, allowing the delicate gold and silver surfaces to be cleaned in a highly controlled and targeted manner without the need for any abrasive polishing. 

Made in Paris, probably between 1493 and 1510, the casket is a superb and extremely rare work of early French silver, very little of which survives, even in France. It is likely that its long-standing association with Mary has kept it preserved for over 450 years.   

For three centuries, it was owned by the family of the Dukes of Hamilton, following its acquisition, around 1674, by Anne, Duchess of Hamilton. According to a handwritten note stored with it from the late 17th century, she bought the casket, previously owned by Mary, Marchioness of Douglas, on the understanding that it had belonged to Mary, Queen of Scots.  

The note records the belief that this is the casket which played a dramatic role in Mary’s downfall when, in December 1568, a similar casket was produced at a hearing ordered by Elizabeth I against Mary at Westminster.

This contained what have become known as the Casket Letters. These love poems and letters, allegedly from Mary to her third husband, the Earl of Bothwell, implicated them both in a conspiracy to murder her second husband, Lord Darnley.  

Dr Anna Groundwater, Acting Keeper of Scottish History and Archaeology at National Museums Scotland said:  ” One of Scotland’s national treasures, this extraordinary casket has been venerated as a relic of Mary, Queen of Scots for centuries, and I’m delighted that more people will have the opportunity to see it up close when it goes on tour later this year.

“Beyond its connections to one of Scotland’s most famous figures, it is a rare and spectacular piece of historic silver in its own right.”  

A casket first appears in the records following Mary’s arrest in 1567 by the rebellious Confederate Lords, when it is discovered in the hands of Lord Bothwell’s servant.

It was brought before the Scottish Privy Council where its lock was struck off to reveal its contents. Precisely what these were at that moment is unknown. However, a year later, when the Earl of Moray dramatically produced the same casket at Westminster, it now contained the damning Casket Letters. 

The authorship of the letters remains a subject of debate, but it is widely thought that they were doctored. Following the hearing at Westminster, Mary remained in English captivity for 19 years, until she was executed in 1587 for her involvement in the Babington Plot to assassinate Elizabeth I, and place Mary on the English throne. 

Councillor Jackie McCamon, Vice Chair of Communities Committee and speaking on behalf of Dumfries and Galloway Council said: “This is such an exciting loan.

“We are pleased to be working with the National Museums Scotland once more, a key partner for Kirkcudbright Galleries over the years, and have no doubt this will be an emotional and stirring exhibition. I personally can’t wait to see it” 

Caroline Mathers, Director of the Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum said: “The Smith Art Gallery and Museum is delighted to be partnering with the National Museum of Scotland to bring the Mary, Queen of Scots Casket to Stirling.

“This extraordinary treasure gives us a glimpse into the life of a Queen who has captured imaginations around the world for hundreds of years. A story of power, oppression and ultimately, betrayed. It’s as good a story as it gets.” 

The casket was acquired for the nation in 2022 for £1.8 million thanks to support from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Art Fund, the Scottish Government and several trusts, foundations and individual donors. 

Its display in Kirkcudbright and Stirling is supported by the Weston Loan Programme with Art Fund. Created by the Garfield Weston Foundation and Art Fund, the Weston Loan Programme is the first ever UK-wide funding scheme to enable smaller and local authority museums to borrow works of art and artefacts from national collections. 

Sophia Weston, Deputy Chair of the Garfield Weston Foundation, said: “One of the key aims of the Weston Loan Programme is to bring world class objects to regional museums so that they can be enjoyed by as many people as possible.

“We are delighted to support the display of this very special piece of Scottish history in Kirkcudbright and Stirling where it can be seen in a new context by local audiences.” 

The tour of the Mary, Queen of Scots casket is part of National Museums Scotland’s National Strategy, which sees collections and expertise shared through loans, participation in national projects, community engagement, funding for acquisitions and free knowledge and skills development opportunities for museums across Scotland. 

Over 2500 objects are currently on loan to Scottish organisations, bringing the National Collection to audiences across the country. These include two rare, decorative panels dating from the 16th and 17th centuries which feature in Perth Museum’s debut exhibition Unicorn and an 800-year-old Bishop’s crook, or crozier – made from gilt bronze and adorned with enamel inlay – which has recently gone on display in Whithorn Priory Museum.  

Find out more about Mary, Queen of Scots and some of the objects associated with her in National Museums Scotland’s collection here. 

Video can be downloaded here.

A 3D model of the casket can be viewed here.

Cadenza concert in support of Kindred

Cadenza Spring Serenade in support of Kindred

Date: Saturday 11th May 2024

Time: 7.30 pm

Tickets: £12 (Children free) available on

Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cadenza-spring-serenade-tickets-862646728587?aff=ebdssbdestsearch or on the door

Venue: Inverleith St Serf’s Parish Church, 280 Ferry Road, EH5 3NP

One of Edinburgh’s leading mixed voice choirs, Cadenza, celebrates sunny days, starry nights and air filled with birdsong, in works by Ravel, Elgar, Saint-Saens and more …

Southhouse incident: Six men charged

Six men have been charged with attempted murder following an incident at Southhouse Square, Edinburgh, in January.

Around 8.35pm on Friday, 26 January 2024, emergency services attended Southhouse Square, following reports of a disturbance involving several men.

One man, aged 25, was found seriously injured and taken to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. A second man, aged 24, was also injured in the altercation and sought medical treatment.

A black BMW car was also stolen during the incident.

Extensive enquiries were carried out and six men, aged between 20 and 58, were arrested and charged in connection with the incident.

A report has been submitted to the Procurator Fiscal.

Detective Sergeant Steven Dick said: “I would like to thank the members of the public who responded to our appeal for information and came forward with information.”

Sunak: Stopping the Boats

PM Rishi Sunak’s press statement on the next stage of the plan to stop the boats

Last week – yet again – Peers in the House of Lords contrived to stop the Safety of Rwanda Bill.    

For almost two years our opponents have used every trick in the book to block flights and keep the boats coming.  

But enough is enough. 

No more prevarication. No more delay.

Parliament will sit there tonight and vote no matter how late it goes.

No ifs, no buts. These flights are going to Rwanda. 

We are going to deliver this indispensable deterrent so that we finally break the business model of the criminal gangs and save lives.

Starting from the moment that the Bill passes we will begin the process of removing those identified for the first flight.  

We have prepared for this moment.  

To detain people while we prepare to remove them, we’ve increased detention spaces to 2,200.  

To quickly process claims, we’ve got 200 trained dedicated caseworkers ready and waiting. 

To deal with any legal cases quickly and decisively, the judiciary have made available 25 courtrooms and identified 150 judges who could provide over 5,000 sitting days.  

The Strasbourg Court have amended their Rule 39 procedures in line with the tests set out in our Illegal Migration Act and we’ve put beyond all doubt that Ministers can disregard these injunctions with clear guidance that if they decide to do so, civil servants must deliver that instruction. 

 And most importantly, once the processing is complete, we will physically remove people. 

To do that, I can confirm that we’ve put an airfield on standby booked commercial charter planes for specific slots… 

…and we have 500 highly trained individuals ready to escort illegal migrants all the way to Rwanda, with 300 more trained in the coming weeks. 

This is one of the most complex operational endeavours the Home Office has carried out. 

But we are ready. Plans are in place. 

And these flights will go come what may. 

No foreign court will stop us from getting flights off.  

Rwanda is ready too. 

And I would like to thank the government of Rwanda for their work in strengthening their asylum system, passing legislation, and setting up a new appeals tribunal. 

The next few weeks will be about action.

But whilst I’m conscious people want deeds not words I’m not going to outline now exactly what will happen when. 

There are good operational reasons for this. 

There is a loud minority who will do anything to disrupt our plan so we will not be giving away sensitive operational detail which could hinder all the progress made to date. 

Teams across government need to be able to get on and deliver without interference. 

They are working flat out to deliver this genuine game changer. 

The first flight will leave in 10 to 12 weeks. 

Now of course, that is later than we wanted. 

But we have always been clear that processing will take time and if Peers had not spent weeks holding up the Bill in the House of Lords to try to block flights altogether, we would have begun this process weeks ago. 

And the success of this deterrent doesn’t rest on one flight alone. 

It rests on the relentless, continual process of successfully and permanently removing people to Rwanda with a regular rhythm of multiple flights every month over the summer and beyond until the boats are stopped.

Now I know there are some who will hear all of this and accuse me of lacking compassion. 

But the truth is the opposite. 

We are in a battle with callous, sophisticated, and global criminal gangs who care nothing for the lives they risk in unseaworthy dinghies.  

Nine people have died already attempting to cross the Channel just this year – including a seven-year-old girl.

That’s why we secured the largest ever deal with France to strengthen interceptions on the French coastline.  

And because a third of all arrivals were coming from Albania we struck a deal that reduced illegal Albanian migrants by 90 per cent. 

Taken together we’re doubling illegal working raids and returning 150 hotels back to our communities.

We got the number of small boat arrivals last year down by more than a third the first time they had fallen since this phenomenon began, and at a time when European countries were seeing numbers rise exponentially.   

But these sophisticated gangs are changing tactics once again.  

As well as piling twice as many people into small dinghies and increasing violence against French police they have shifted their attentions towards vulnerable Vietnamese migrants.  

Vietnamese arrivals have increased ten-fold and account for almost all of the increase in small boat numbers we have seen this year. 

And just as we succeeded in reducing Albanian arrivals dramatically, so I’m confident we will do the same when it comes to the Vietnamese.  

President Macron and I have agreed to work with European partners on closing loopholes to enter Europe in the first place. 

The Home Office have signed a Joint Statement with the Vietnamese Government committing to deepen our already very strong migration relationship.

And just last week officials from the Government of Vietnam were at Western Jetfoil and Manston to observe Border Force operations on the front line as they continue to manage small boat arrivals.

But we can’t keep reacting to the changing tactics of these gangs. The truth is we need innovative solutions to address what is a global migration crisis to disrupt the business model of people smuggling gangs and save lives.

And that means a systematic deterrent.

The only way to stop the boats is to eliminate the incentive to come by making it clear that if you are here illegally, you will not be able to stay. 

This policy does exactly that.

I believe it should be this country and your government who decides who comes here, not criminal gangs.  And I have the plan to deliver it.  

So we will start the flights – and stop the boats.  

Thank you.

Driving digital connectivity

Broadband connection milestone reached

More than one million faster broadband connections have been delivered to homes and businesses across Scotland, backed by £1 billion of publicly-driven investment.

The £463 million Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) programme launched in 2014 and connected more than 950,600 premises to fibre-based broadband – over 150,000 more than originally anticipated. The build was completed in 2020, with independent analysis showing that the programme is delivering £12 of benefits to the economy for every £1 of public funding.

The £600 million Reaching 100% (R100) programme, one of the most ambitious and complex digital infrastructure programmes in Europe is now rolling out connections in some of the country’s most challenging rural locations. 

Originally conceived as a superfast broadband programme, R100 is now providing a gigabit-capable connection – a speed more than 30 times faster than superfast broadband – in around 99% of cases. Building to some of the hardest-to-reach parts of Scotland, 48,000 connections have so far been delivered through the R100 contracts, with a further 3,800 connections provided through the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme. 

To mark the delivery milestone, Wellbeing Economy Secretary Mairi McAllan visited Highland Fling Bungee in Perthshire, a small business that has benefitted from the R100 contracts.

She said: “Fast and reliable broadband has never been so important: it is an increasingly vital tool for everything from work and leisure, healthcare and education. As illustrated by Highland Fling Bungee, it is also unlocking new ways for businesses to innovate and thrive.

“This is precisely why the Scottish Government has prioritised investment in digital connectivity in the 2024-25 Budget. Indeed, despite telecoms being reserved, we have now committed to investing more than £650 million across the DSSB and R100 programmes, recognising that faster broadband is a key building block for a green and growing economy.  

“Enabling more than one million connections to faster broadband is a landmark achievement in delivering this vision, and we are fully committed to ensuring as many people as possible can benefit from the advantages of future-proofed digital infrastructure to run businesses and services across the country.

Laurie Thomas, Operations Manager at Highland Fling Bungee in Killiecrankie said: “Full Fibre broadband connection has benefited all aspects of our business. It has had huge positive impacts for our marketing and operations so that now we can livestream jumps and send edited videos of customer jumps in around a day, as well as helping our social media.

“This has made a significant difference to how we can engage and respond to customers, which has been game-changing for our business.” 

Chief Engineer for lead delivery partner Openreach Scotland Fraser Rowberry said: “Scotland’s digital journey is a story of resilience and progress. From adapting to remote work and learning during the pandemic to expanding ultrafast internet access, we’ve come a long way.

“Today’s milestone marks a massive engineering success, connecting people and businesses from Shetland to Stranraer, and we’re proud of the part we’ve played through our work with the Scottish Government. 

“Change on this scale, reaching even the most rural areas, is a testament to teamwork and determination. Let’s celebrate our achievements as we keep reaching for better connectivity across Scotland.” 

UK Digital Infrastructure Minister Julia Lopez said: “It’s fantastic to see that so many will benefit from the one million connections we’ve worked with the Scottish Government to fund and deliver.

“All these communities, who were previously stuck with snail’s pace internet, now have the speeds available to stream, work and play.

“In addition to the rollout of Superfast connections, we now want to ensure Scottish communities have the connectivity they need for the decades to come.

“This is why we are planning further investment in contracts to bring much faster full fibre broadband to hard-to-reach premises right across Scotland – futureproofing rural communities by empowering homes and businesses to seize the benefits of digital technology.”

Stephen Lawrence Day: We need to recognise the drivers for disparity

A blog by the Youth Justice Board’s (YJB) Business Intelligence and Insights Directorate that highlights racial disparity in the youth justice system and the ongoing work to tackle it.

Today, people across the UK remember Stephen Lawrence, who at just 18 was murdered in an unprovoked racist attack. Every year, on 22 April, Stephen Lawrence Day is an opportunity for people to come together and honour Stephen’s life and legacy and stand up against discrimination.

At the YJB, we have been highlighting the issues of over-representation and disproportionality of Black children and those with Mixed ethnicity within the youth justice system for more than a decade. And so, it seems timely to highlight the information on disparity that we have captured in our Annual Statistics.

What do our Annual Youth Justice Statistics show?

While there have been promising reductions across different stages of the youth justice system, Black children and those with Mixed ethnicity continued to be over-represented.

Compared with the proportion of Black children in the 10-17 population, Black children are disproportionately represented across most stages of the youth justice system.

Disproportionality of Black children in the youth justice system

There have been some encouraging reductions across several areas in recent years, including stop and search, arrests, youth cautions, first time entrants, sentencing and children in custody. 

What does the wider evidence tell us?

Addressing ethnic disparities in the youth justice system is one of the YJB’s strategic priorities and will require close partnership working to achieve. We now know more about the existence and extent of ethnic disparities, and potential drivers, but less about potential solutions.  

YJB commissioned analysis identifies that:

Intersectionality is also apparent when analysing the data from other government departments  – for example custodial sentences have been found to be twice as common among care-experienced children with a Black or Mixed ethnicity compared with care-experienced children who were White.

YJB research identifies that the key drivers of ethnic disparity in child reoffending include:  

  1. Marginalisation of individuals and communities.
  2. Individual, institutional and systematic bias.
  3. Weaknesses in prevention and intervention.
  4. Negative experiences of the wider youth justice system.

This is consistent with findings from wider research and data which finds that Black and Mixed ethnicity children are:

In line with this, HM Inspectorate of Probation (2021) found that 60% of Black or Mixed ethnicity boys sentenced to court orders had been excluded from school, often permanently.

With the structure and safety of the school system removed (including access to heat, food, and a community of peers) it may increase the chances a child may become involved in crime.

The HM Inspectorate of Probation thematic review also reports that Black and Mixed ethnicity boys in the justice system are more likely than others to have an Education, Health and Care plan and unaddressed special educational needs and disabilities.

This creates additional vulnerability for these children for which they may be currently receiving insufficient support both before and after entry to the youth justice system.

Promising interventions to address ethnic disparity include racially sensitive interventions and training for staff to be more culturally competent, with a contextual understanding of the child/families’ personal experiences, as well as constant investment/interest in improving and understanding structural inequalities.

What are we and others doing? 

To try and reduce disparity, the YJB has published research on ethnic disparities in reoffending rates, and recently funded the evaluation of the Brent and Newham COVID-19 over-represented children pathfinder.  

Ongoing and upcoming work to further explore and address disparity for children from ethnic minority backgrounds includes:

  • research into the usage of Pre-Sentence Reports being conducted by Ipsos Mori and Manchester Metropolitan University will be published in spring 2024
  • Revolving Doors have been commissioned to produce a Disparity Good Practice report which will include case studies of good practice in tackling inequalities in youth justice which will be published in 2024
  • bids for the Addressing Disproportionality Pathfinder have now closed and the commercial process is ongoing
  • the upcoming release of the Case Level Ethnic Disparity Tool which will be made available to youth justice services and enable them to investigate disproportionality within their service

A range of research activity is being delivered by the sector around ethnic disparity, many of which we will keep track of through our strategic relationships, including:  

  • The Youth Endowment Fund have commissioned The University of Greenwich to review evidence of what works in tackling racial disparity
  • The Nuffield Foundation have funded a project on Racial Disparity in Diversion which The University of Bedfordshire will undertake

Stephen Lawrence Day serves as a poignant reminder of the need to confront racial injustice and systemic discrimination.

But there is no one-solution to a systemic problem. Of course, we want fewer Black and Mixed ethnicity children entering the justice system, but to achieve this, we need to recognise the drivers for disparity and work collaboratively to achieve whole system change.

Lung Ha Theatre Company turns 40

One of the UK’s leading theatre companies for learning disabled actors, Lung Ha celebrates four decades of brilliant theatre-making

Lung Ha is an Edinburgh-based theatre company for actors and theatre makers with a learning disability and autism which produces award-winning productions and works with a year-round, 25-strong Ensemble to develop their practice and remove barriers to participation into the arts.

April marks the start of 12 months of the Company’s 40th anniversary celebrations which will see it take part in or present a remounting of the Company’s 2021 hit An Unexpected Hiccup at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world’s biggest stage.

Originally created and performed under strict COVID procedures during the global pandemic, the show is a tale of comic misunderstandings, sinister goings on and dangerous eccentricities.

This will also be the inaugural production of the Lung Ha Touring Company which will provide further opportunities for performers to create and tour new and existing work, with bespoke and specialist actor training.

An Unexpected Hiccup is a co-production with Plutôt La Vie featuring five Lung Ha actors, written by Michael Duke after a devising process with the Company. It will be presented between 2 and 10 August at Zoo Southside.

The Company is also commissioning initial research to develop an Access and Creative Principles Toolkit which will support the launch of Lung Ha Touring Company. The research aims to cover three main areas:

  1. To understand the access support structures required for learning-disabled actors in a professional company.  
  2. To apply fair and equitable pay remuneration frameworks for ourselves and other theatre companies working with actors and artists in receipt of varied and complex benefit arrangements. 
  3. To create a practical toolkit for working with learning-disabled actors which has a wider culture sector benefit and application. 

The first publication of findings is expected in spring 2025. The project is funded by RS Macdonald Charitable Trust.

Lung Ha Theatre Company has been invited as a guest contributor at the Europe In Action Conference, a partnership between Inclusion Europe and Enable in May 2024 in Glasgow during Learning Disability Awareness Week, hosted by Enable who are also marking an anniversary year (70th).

The Company will be hosting the closing session of the conference with the theme of deinstitutionalisation, including a presentation about the Company’s work and a focus on the award-winning production Castle Lennox from 2023.

Also in May, Lung Ha Theatre Company will host the World Premiere of its short film, Love Like Salt, at Traverse Theatre – a loose adaptation of Shakespeare’s King Lear, featuring the Lung Ha Ensemble and co-created by Maria Oller, Susan Worsfold and Stuart Platt. The evening will also feature a short snippet from an anniversary documentary about the Company made and edited by a Lung Ha actor, Emma McCaffrey.

Throughout the year Lung Ha will be spotlighting our Ensemble actors using commissioned portraits from photographer and long-time collaborator Peter Dibden. The photoshoot was a glamourous “Met gala meets night at the theatre” extravaganza.

The actors were given the opportunity to curate their own costumes and threw themselves into model poses and characterful performances which are beautifully captured in this series and in our commemorative 40th anniversary Ensemble group photograph.

Short history of Lung Ha

Lung Ha Theatre Company began its life as Lung Ha’s Theatre Company in October 1984. A sixty strong team of performers, with a learning disability, under the direction of Richard Vallis and Peter Clerke created and performed their own version of the fabled Monkey stories (for a time the Company was called Lung Ha’s Monkey Theatre).

The production was hugely successful and a new company and vitally important new theatrical voice launched onto the Scottish stage, now a vital part of it.

Since then, the Company has worked with over three hundred performers with a learning disability creating over forty original productions. The Company and has also worked with some of the leading artists and creative organisations across the country and toured internationally to England, France, Ireland, Poland, Sweden and Finland. 

Some of the Company’s achievements include the Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS) for Best Ensemble in Huxley’s Lab in 2009 (co-recipient with Grid Iron Theatre Company) and for Castle Lennox, a 2023 co-production with The Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh.

Now the company offers a range of creative opportunities for learning disabled actors. Our Pathway for Progression features six strands of work where actors can access training and performing opportunities in an inclusive and welcoming environment and on an established platform.

These are The Lung Ha Ensemble, Lung Ha Touring Company, Lung Ha Across Scotland (an online nationwide actor training workshop series), Creative Development (one to one skills development, mentoring and critical response), Sharing our Expertise (via our Access and Creative Principles Toolkit, and workshop leader training), and Supporting External Opportunities (where the Lung Ha team prepares and supports people with their creative ambitions outwith Lung Ha).

Artistic Director Maria Oller and Executive Director Ruth McEwan said: “Entering our 40th year, we are so proud of our achievements and what has come before now.

“We have shared incredible moments with everyone we work with and our audiences far and wide.

“From here, we are passionate about continuing to create fabulous theatrical experiences and breaking down barriers in our sector and beyond. Our actors are the inspiration and the beating heart of Lung Ha Theatre Company.”

Lung Ha actor Fern Brodie said: “I see Lung Ha and the other actors as my other family.

“I feel safe and happy when I spend time with them.”

Lung Ha actor Gavin Yule said: “Lung Ha is a place where I can perform and practise acting skills and develop new ones.

“It’s also where I can make friends and have a social outlet. It also allows me to experience professional theatre and perform incredible pieces of work.”

Theatre critic Neil Cooper said: “Its first show, Lung Ha’s Monkey, gave the company both its name and an identity that seemed to suggest that monkeying around on stage was a good thing.

“In the forty years since, that sense of liberation through play has remained at the company’s core throughout work by a stream of writers and directors who followed in Vallis and Clerke’s footsteps.

“With current Lung Ha Artistic Director Maria Oller at the helm for the last fifteen years, the company’s radical philosophy has put it at the centre, not just of community-based arts initiatives, but of Scotland’s entire theatre ecology.

Watching the company grow into itself over these years has been a joy. Long may Lung Ha continue to thrive.”

PYCP launches Spring Programme

✨ PY Spring Programme ✨

We’re ready to go after a week of planning and prep! Buzzing to see all our young people this week 😎

Reminder: All young people need a consent form to attend our project, this MUST be completed by the legal guardian of the child – if you have completed one since September last year, you do NOT need to do another one.